Black Moon: Segundo Cuento
by CoriRedde
Summary: What if Aizen had taken Ichigo from the human world right after the death of his mother? If Ichigo had grown up an arrancar? If he was known Aizen's son? If he had a rebellious streak concerning a certain pint-sized shinigami...Rating to go up. Very Espada Conclusive.
1. Change the Pendulum Swing

**El Segundo Cuento dela Luna Negro**

**The Black Moon's Second Story**

**A Bleach FanFiction**

**By Cori Redde**

**Chapter 1**

**Change the Pendulum Swing**

* * *

Isshin's lungs burned in his gigai's chest, but still he ran. Never before, since in the initial loss of his spiritual power, had he yearned so badly for the abilities of a soul reaper. Isshin hadn't ever regretted essentially becoming a human, but as he was forced to abide by human speed in his gigai, the man cursed. His insides quivered in protest. Isshin ignored it; this fake body's fate hardly mattered in regard to another's.

So, he continued to run.

* * *

Ichigo had skipped school twice already this week, and saw no reason to stop his track record. The tiny nine-year-old turned around and paced back the other direction, carefully placing his sneaker-clad feet one in front of the other on the river walk's edge. Perhaps if he could walk on this spot enough, the spot where his mother's body had lain, she would come back to him. Ichigo fisted his small hands around his backpack's straps, turning again. It was his entire fault, trying to save someone already dead and ending up on his back with another death on top of him. The little boy hadn't smiled in the days following the accident because there was nothing to smile about.

_Momma…_

* * *

His artificial skin was slick with sweat, but he could feel the approaching energy in the direction of the river. His heart beat faster. Isshin flipped open his phone, fingers shaking too much to press that one button. He turned a corner, tripping over an oncoming pedestrian. The cell phone fell from his hand. It skittered across the sidewalk into the street, instantly crushed under traffic. Isshin barely spared a glance. His son's distress blinked out under the weight of the energy ripping the sky. He forced his body to move faster.

_Ichigo, don't…_

* * *

The boy squatted down, staring into the lazily gurgling water. His legs were tired; he had been pacing for quite a long time. The bright sky was slowly turning orange, pink claws stretching among the white clouds. Ichigo noticed his shoe was untied, the white laces dirty from his trekking back and forth. He tried very hard to tie it, but the knot would simply not turn out as neatly as when his mother had done it. In frustration, the boy stood and paced again, stomping his feet. Suddenly, something compressed the air around him, causing the trees to sway. Ichigo looked up from his shoes, staring at a jagged black line ripping a gash in the air in front of him.

His eyes opened wide, subconsciously preparing to fight. The air split into a wide eye-shape, revealing a swirling mass of darkness. Ichigo gaped. He wondered if, like so many other things, he alone could see this. The darkness broke for a long white robe worn on a bespeckled, warmly smiling man. His brown hair and black kimono became distinguishable when he finally stepped from the gap in the sky. Ichigo stared at the man walking on air, barely noticing the man was walking toward him. A bright glint caught the nine-year-old's eye, as shiny objects often catch children's attention. The orange-haired boy realized a green-gripped sword was sheathed at the man's waste.

"Hello," the man said softly, standing in front of Ichigo. The boy stepped back.

"Wh-who are you?" He questioned warily.

"My name is Sosuke Aizen," the man responded, "and I am here to help you."

"Help me?" Ichigo repeated. His foot slipped; he opened his mouth to scream- but the man, Aizen, had already caught him.

"Yes, Ichigo Kurosaki." Aizen's brown eyes glittered. "I want to help you." Ichigo's own eyes widened.

"How do you know my name?" He demanded, stamping a foot on the ground. "What do you mean?"

Aizen placed a gentle hand on the boy's shoulder. "I have been watching you, Ichigo. As a sort of…guardian." He knelt down to the nine-year-olds' height. "I saw your mother's accident, and I'm very sorry." Ichigo's lip quivered; Aizen continued.

"I can give you the power to make sure something like that never happens again," He promised, "I can even give you the chance to find your mother again: would you like that?" Ichigo nodded very slowly, enraptured by the man's silver tongue.

"Do you want the power I'm offering you, Ichigo?"

* * *

Isshin rounded the last corner, panic ripping his heart apart. He could see the closing remnants of a garganta; he could feel the monstrous reiatsu placing a hand on his son. The former captain sprinted forward, the water's edge glinting just too far away. He barely heard and felt the unmistakable edge of a sword against a sheath as it was drawn and the small rise in power that accompanied it. Suddenly, the sky seemed so much darker. A single scream speaking of lost innocence expanded around the area of the river walk.

* * *

The man drew his sword, cutting through Ichigo's body and ejecting the boy's soul backwards. Wide, scared eyes stared at the small orange-haired body on the ground.

"I'm…why can I see me?" Ichigo asked, rushing forward to his own flesh. His clumsy feet tripped, the object that caused the occurrence wrapped around his ankle. 'I- what's going on!" His gripped the shirt worn on his body with trembling hands, panic making his chest heave. He shook the vacant flesh-and-blood on the ground. "Hey!"

Aizen stepped calmly to the confused nine-year-old in front of him. "Ichigo, do you see this chain?" Ichigo's hands wrapped around the silver links. "This chain connects you to your body, and it keeps you from the power I want to give you. It keeps you from your mother." Ichigo tugged on the chain, wincing in pain.

"Then I want it off!"

The boy missed the cruelty leaking though Aizen's exterior as the sword descended again.

* * *

The father saw it, the loss of his son. He watched the man who hid under the guise of the collected captain drive his sword through the soul of his son. He saw Ichigo's form falter for only a moment before his heart exploded in his chest. White seeped through the hole in the center of the boy's chest, crawling upward to for the sickening bone mask of a hollow. The orange-haired half-breed contorted, his body shuddering. His skin turned ghastly white; bones stretched and changed to mimic a lizard.

Isshin bounded down the last step in a last effort save his son.

* * *

"Come, Ichigo," the soul reaper commanded, the sky splitting behind him. "You can feel it."

Ichigo wasn't sure what 'it' was, there were multiple possibilities. He could feel _it, _the lingering human souls. He could feel _it, _different pressure made of energy. He could feel _it,_ the entity running toward him. He could feel _it, _the potential. But most of all he could feel _it: _there was emptiness inside him, a hunger like an endless void.

The new hollow tensed its legs, power rippling through its body in a black and red wave. The soul reaper captain retreated into the garganta, beckoning once with his hand. The hollow sprang forward through the opening to Hueco Mundo.

As he descended into the barren world, he forever embedded the feeling of fierce love running down his back into his brain. Confusion and doubt made a home in his mind, a storage place for his human memories.

* * *

The gigai's feeling of touching the hard, white skin caused his heart to tremble. Isshin lay on the ground where he had landed, staring at the place from which his son had vanished.

"Ichigo…" he mourned, "my son, damn it, not my son!"

Only common noise from city traffic answered. His blood boiled. His old life had stolen from him twice, two new holes in his artificial heart.

Never again would he hold his son; if he ever saw Ichigo again, the boy would be a hollow. He would have to kill him.

"Ichigo!"

**End Chapter One**

Next time: _Chapter Two- Son of Sosuke Aizen._


	2. Part One: Son of Sousuke Aizen

**El Segundo Cuento de la Luna Negra**

**The Black Moon's Second Story**

**A Bleach FanFiction**

**by Cori Redde**

**Arc One**

**Son of Sosuke Aizen**

**Part One**

* * *

A scowling boy races down the long white corridor, pumping his arms.

"I won't let you!" He shouts in defiance, waving one arm behind him. Two pairs of adult feet race down the hall behind him.

"Loly, he's too fast!" The blonde of the pair pants. the black-haired other's face shapes into a ferocious grin. She tenses her legs to zoom forward in _sonido._

"Ichigo, come back here!" Menoly shrieks, throwing her arms out. The action accidently interrupts Loly's (the dark-haired half of the pair) _sonido_ and she trips, rolling forward and sitting up on her butt.

"No!" The eleven-year-old turns suddenly into a new hallway. Suddenly, the blonde notices her friend where she sits growling on the ground.

Menoly leans down. "Are you ok, Loly?" She asks. Her friends is back on her feat in an instant.

"Damn that kid," Loly growls. "Come on." The two continue on their chase, turning at the same right that Ichigo had taken, a few seconds lost. Menoly gasps suddenly. Loly looks at her in alarm.

"What is it, Menoly?" The blonde points forward in answer. Off the tip of her finger, Loly can see a door.

"Shi-that's..." She grits her teeth.

"The Espada's meeting room!" Menoly finishes for her. Already but a few steps from the door is Ichigo.

"Lord Aizen is in there right now!" Loly hisses to her counterpart. They burst forward in _sonido_, going as fast as they can. Ichigo glares from his place with a hand on the door to push it in, panting slightly.

"Stay away, you damn airheads!" He shouts. His eyes are all defiance inside their scowl.

"Ichigo!" Loly screams frantically, "Don't you dare-"

* * *

Aizen sits at his place at the long table, chin resting on his hand.

"I apologize," he says, the matter of whether or not he felt remorse debatable, "But it appears we have unexpected guests." The captain from soul Society looks to the front of the room where a gruff blue-haired man stands with his hands stuffed in his pockets.

"Ah, Grimmjow," murmurs a deceptively pleasant voice from Aizen's right, "might I suggest taking a few steps away from the door?"

The sixth Espada sniffs, "Tch, and what-!"

The door slams open, an orange-haired ball of destructive reiatsu slamming into Grimmjow. The boy ducks behind the blue-haired arrancar.

"Grimm-kitty, stop them!" An arm extends to point at the two sister arrancar running down the corridor. The Espada rolls his eyes and grabs the punk by his collar, hoisting him off the ground to eye level with him.

"And just where the hell do you get by ordering me around like your bitch, huh, brat?" Grimmjow shakes the kid, "I'm still your seni-"

Twin gasps cut him off. "L-lord Aizen!"

Loly and Menoly fall to their knees.

"I'm so sorry, sir," Loly gasps, "he escaped us and -" Her voice leaves her as she is faced with Aizen's gentle smile.

"That's alright," he murmurs, "I'm sure you did your best." Both girls quiver, relieved smiles breaking over their faces. Ichigo rolls his eyes from his place in disgust. Grimmjow does the same. They growl at each other when they notice they've unintentionally become mirrors.

"Kaname," Aizen continues, his chin still resting on the back of his hand, "Please escort these two out." His gaze lands on the orange-haired arrancar trying to reach Grimmjow. "And open the gates."

The Espada all look up in mild shock.

"The gates, Lord Aizen?" The ninth captain questions. Aizen runs a lazy hand through his wavy brown hair.

"Yes. Grimmjow will take Ichigo out hunting, won't you?" The blue-haired arrancar slouches, holding out his arm so the youngest arrancar could face the shinigami captain.

"What?" He growls, and incredulous look outlined on his handsome face, "You want me to take this pipsqueak out? That's not even worth a decent fight!" Ichigo watches his Lord's face turn to him with an expectant expression. His limp, cross-armed, pouting stature is getting annoying, the boy decides. The orange-haired arrancar grabs Grimmjow's arm and twists, pulling himself over the extended limb and smashing his foot into Grimmjow's face. The Sexta Espada hits the wall; Ichigo stands with his arms crossed.

"It's me who won't get a good fight, you bastard!" Ichigo sneers. "Can't even take a kick from a pipsqueak? Tch, pathetic." A few snickers rise from the Espada gathered in the room.

Grimmjow growls angrily, wiping blood from his nose with the back of his hand. "Alright, punk, you're on!" He extends a hand in challenge. Ichigo grips it firmly, the two boys trying their hardest to break the others' fingers.

"Boys," Halibel murmurs in her detached fashion with apparent distaste. Ichigo freezes, glancing over the female Espada. She gives him a gentle stare, dissaproving. The boy shrugs a 'sorry' before laughing in his rival's face. He takes off in _sonido _down the hallway, leaving Grimmjow to chase after him. His cries of oncoming victory echo back to the meeting room along with Grimmjow's insults.

"Well, they certainly are lively, aren't they, Captain Aizen?" The mentioned man rises from his seat. He waves a hand to dismiss the Espada_. _All but the third leave.

"Gin," Aizen greets smoothly, "How are things in Soul Society?" The silver hair shifts with the third captain's movements, revealing eyes closed with smiling.

"Hmm..." He thinks, tapping a finger to his chin, "Nothing's wrong." He grins, looking all the more like a fox, "Though a particular lieutenant is looking for her captain."

"Then it's time to return," Aizen decides, walking out of the room with no further word for Gin. The man follows him, as expected. "And Tia, please keep my son safe." The woman nods though Aizen will not see it for his back is turned.

"Yes, Lord Aizen."

* * *

"That's twenty-three, Grimmjow!" The small orange-haired arrancar sneers, "How far are you behind?"

The sixth licks his lips. "Twenty-four, brat. You're the one behind." Ichigo snarls before throwing a hand out behind him and ripping thorough a passing adjuchas and the kill in its mouth.

"Twenty-five," he announces, sucking in the energy neatly. "And that was adjuchas," he goes on. The blue-haired arrancar growls low in his throat.

"Then let's see you take a vasto lorde, pipsqueak," he challenges. He crosses his arms smugly, boasting that he has already done the feat.

"Prepare to be eaten then, Grimm-kitty!" And then Ichigo lunges, teeth bared. Though the small-for-an-eleven-year-old does not have pointed teeth like many of his comrades, Grimmjow himself mainly, the look accompanied with his scowl and turning-black sclera is scary enough for the same effect. However, Grimmjow is used to Ichigo's many stages of frightening and takes this one in stride, crouching under the snarling kid and throwing him away. Ichigo catches his foot in the sand and pushes back the other direction. The sixth puts up a block, but quickly leaps out of the way when he sees the black sclera and yellow eyes are now firmly set into Ichigo's eye sockets under the orange fringe.

"Shit," he just barely manages to say before a foot makes solid contact with the maskless side of his face. He's thrown back a few feet, balance disrupted. He draws his sword and swipes it at the mask forming on the kid's face. Ichigo reaches behind himself and draws his own zanpaktou. He smirks wildly, his mostly dormant power bubbling just under his skin.

"Get ready, Grimm-kitty, 'cause I'm abou-" Suddenly, he stops moving, his predator's stalk halted by something the sixth Espada doesn't see.

"What?" Grimmjow snarls. "Too scared, huh, pipsqueak?" Ichigo leaps up, soaring over the Espada's head.

"Don't touch my friend!" He yells, bringing his sword down on a Vasto Lorde. The monster falls, its high energy allowing it to retain his shape. Ichigo straightens, panting hard. His mask fades from his face, his eyes an odd mix of gray and white and yellow and amber when he looks back to Grimmjow.

"Well," the kid scowls, sheathing his sword, "That was a Vasto Lorde, so you're in luck I found another to eat besides you, Grimm-kitty." He plops on the ground and digs into the dead meal of reiatsu in front of him.

Grimmjow howls with laughter. "You got lucky today, you damn brat."

Ichigo shrugs, taking another content bite. "Share?" He mumbles around the large amount of hollow flesh in his mouth. Grimmjow sits next to him.

"Fuck yeah."

* * *

When the two satiated arrancar return to the castle, Tia Halibel is waiting for them. Ichigo grins widely.

"Tia Tia!" He jumps, throwing himself into her arms. He buries his face in her chest. Grimmjow watches this exchange with a sulk.

"Lucky bastard," he mutters. He straightens up and throws on a cocky grin. "Yo, Halibel. Where're those hags of yours?" He stuffs his hands in his pockets.

The third's voice is cold, "My fraccion have retired for the night." The sixth averts his eyes from her glare. She continues in that same fluid tone, "Which is more than I can say for yours. Where are they, I wonder?"

Grimmjow coughs awkardly, setting his jaw and looking away.

"Uh...are you taking that brat, then?"

"Yes," Tia murmurs gently. She shifts the boy more comfortably on her hip. "Ichigo is now under my watch." She turns to _sonido_ away to Ichigo's rooms, pausing to allow the boy to speak when he tugs on her collar.

"Kiss me goodnight, Grimm-kitty!" He sneers, sticking out his tongue.

"Shut the hell up, brat!" The man returns with a snarl. He waves as he walks away though.

The orange-haired arrancar hears a light rumble from Tia. She's laughing, but hiding it. It's surprisingly musical, a low note that Ichigo repeats over and over in his head as they zoom toward his rooms. It reminds him of something he's heard many times, but when his head accompanies the sound with screaming, he forgoes the memories and focuses on his aunt figure.

Tia Halibel's sudden stop in front of the door to her charge's rooms blows their clothes around them with the snapping of fabric.

"What's wrong, Ichigo?" The boy rubs a hand behind his neck, an all too human habit that Tia forces herself to ignore. He laughs weakly, squinting his eyes shut with the force of his wide, fake smile.

"No-nothing, Tia Tia!" He shouts. He jumps down from her arms to shove at the door in front of him. His reiatsu opens the heavy wall. The flat, gray surface parts to reveal grand chambers. Ichigo and his aunt figure walk into the sitting area; blankets, pillows, rugs, and different types of seating are strewn everywhere in bright colors with a single, black table resting in the center of the room. The orange-haired arrancar takes off past this room toward the double doors at the back of his lounge. Behind these is a black and white bedroom, the boy's hair the only color in the place. The Tercera Espada takes a left, heading into the small library to pick out one of the new Shakespeare plays Ichigo had managed to convince his father into getting for him.

The third Espada takes on step of _sonido_ into the boy's room.

"What'd you bring, Tia Tia?" He asks, face void of his scowl for once. The blonde hollow hands over the paperback edition of _A Midsummer Night's Dream_. Ichigo takes it eagery, settling down onto his covers contentedly and opening to the first page. The tercera Espada retreats to a chair next to her charge's bed. The light of the moon shines through the window, creating long shadows that Tia Halibel watches fall over Ichigo's face. For a moment, she can see the handsome young man he will become. She smiles as he drifts into sleep.

_You will be the one to shake us all, Ichigo, _she thinks with conviction. She presses a hand to her chest, _And when that happens, hopefully this terrible reign will end._

* * *

**Well, ending on a little sentimental note, there. I personally find this chapter just a bit too cute and short for my tastes, but I decided to do shorter chapters for this story. This first arc will be skipping through the next couple years until the big moment when Ichigo gets to meet Rukia! :)**

**Just so y'all know, Tia Tia comes from the spanish word tia which means aunt. I thought it to be cute because Halibel's name is Tia, lol.**

**Review, lovelies. Say something really interesting and I'll be sure to respond. Thank you for all the reviews I received for that short little prologue. It really made my day. The next update will be in a much more reasonable time span than this one was.**

**The rating is going to move up to M in the next two chapters, I believe. At the time it will be for violence and language, but later...**

**Arigato, gracias, and thank you. Cori Redde **


	3. Part Two: Son of Sousuke Aizen

**El Segundo Cuento de la Luna Negra**

**The Black Moon's Second Story**

**A Bleach FanFiction**

**by CoriRedde**

**Arc One**

**Son of Sousuke Aizen**

**Part Two**

* * *

"And take this!" Ichigo casually raises a forearm, catching the roundhouse kick from Edrad Liones, a member of Grimmjow's fraccion.

"Taken," he says, a smirk slithering up his features. He throws out his out a leg and catches the arrancar square in the gut. The male falls to his knees. A quick jab delivered from the side of Ichigo's open palm sends Edrad to join to other members of Grimmjow's fraccion in a comatose state on the ground. Ichigo wipes his hands on his white hakama.

"Well, now, Grimmjow," he says lowly, "What was that you said earlier? I forget...something like-" The orange-haired arrancar is cut off by an oncoming punch. He ducks, spinning around to face the sexta espada. Grimmjow is snarling, his overlong incisors glaringly obvious.

"Shut up, brat!" He grows lowly.

Ichigo smirks wickedly, "Didn't you say your fracciones would polish the throne room with my face?" He laughs once, a rude bark that ended in a voice crack.

Grimmjow laughs this time. "Oh, how cute," he sneers, "The brat's voice is changing." Ichigo snarls and lunges at Grimmjow's throat. With the appearance of a fourteen year old human boy, Ichigo is almost tall enough to indulge in the forehead grind. To Grimmjow's chagrin, he is also too tall to hold back via hand to face and straightened arm out.

Suddenly, terrified reiatsu screams around the palace.

Ichigo and Grimmjow freeze with fists in each other's cheeks.

"What was that?"

"You think I know, you dumbass?" Grimmjow shouts. Ichigo is already sprinting away, his heels kicking up dirt as he flings himself into sonido. Grimmjow smirks, hoping to hear a smack of the brat hitting his face into a wall. This side of the castle, the hallways are narrow and the turns are quick. In other words, the art of sonido is too tricky for such tight quarters.

When there is no smack, the sexta espada frowns. _Damn. That kid is way too talented._

* * *

Ichigo keeps his eyes narrowed as the force of his sonido whips his hair and clothes back. His senses stretch outward, searching for the source of the terror.

_"No!" _He hears, "_Please, Barragan, sir! No!" _The voice is young and female. Glossy black and sand brown flash through Ichigo's memory. He blinks, wondering just what the hell that was.

He spins on his heel, whipping to the left and continuing toward another espada's wing of the castle.

"Barragan..." He whispers murderously, finding the second espada's reiatsu underneath the _two _terror-filled auras. "What are you doing?"

He hears the slam of a heavy door. Ichigo takes his last turn and draws up a cero into his hand. The door disintigrates before him. Ichigo lands in a roll on the floor, his left hand up in a guard and the other inching toward the hilt of his zanpaktou.

"Ah, the son of Lord Aizen has come to visit me," comes the deep voice of the segunda espada. The dust clears out enough for Ichigo to finally focus on the dark-skinned hollow's large frame. "Heard those screams, m'boy?" The espada asks stepping toward Ichigo.

"Who's here?" Ichigo demands, taking a step forward in intimidation. Slightly startled, Barragan takes a short pause in his advance toward the apparently fourteen-years-old arrancar. Ichigo mentally hits himself. He'd forgotten Barragan, the segunda espada, would have no reason to fear measly _him. _The fact makes the hairs on the back of Ichigo's neck stand straight.

"These are my quarters, boy," Barragan says reasonably, "So I don't see where you gain the authority to demand information of me." There is the sound of footsteps and the surpressed boom of sonido echoing around the room. Ichigo's eyes shift left and right, carefully tracing out the three shapes moving around him and the segunda espada.

Ichigo smirks, "Your fraccion doesn't intimidate me." All three stumble, their forms becoming solidly visible for a quick moment. Barragan's expression hardens; his one open eyes narrows farther at the orange-haired arrancar in front of him.

"Yes," Barragan agrees, "You do have a streak of stupidity that is mind numbing." His taunt brings a more defined scowl to Ichigo's face, but the boy has enough sense to listen to the end of his elder's sentence. "It makes me wonder why Aizen ever decided to name _you _his son." He laughs, but the sound chokes out quickly when he realizes a blade is being held against the dark skin of his neck. A pieces of his fur collar float to the ground.

"This answer your question?" Ichigo growls, nodding his head toward the positioning of his sword. A twitch of his wrist and Barragan would be history. The collective _shick! _and metallic ring of swords being drawn warns Ichigo of the segunda espada's fraccion hurrying to attack him. He activates his sonido just in time, landing outside of a circle of drawn zanpaktou.

"Alright, brat," Barragan says, holding up a hand to cause the three present members of his fraccion to pause and back away, "What is it you want?"

"Who'd you bring here?!" Ichigo demands, "I heard the reiatsu-!"

The orange-haired arrancar stops talking when two more members of Barragan's fraccion appear. The sixth and last member shows up with his sword drawn next to his master, but he does not warrant Ichigo's attention. The boy focuses on the two who appeared first. Held by the two hollows are two young female arrancar. Though both of them are forced to stand on their own feet, their faces have a dazed look that speaks of unconsciousness creeping up on them.

"You must mean my latest catch," Barragan explains, his old face holding a sickening smile, "In this peacetime, I decided some entertainment was in order. Perhaps you want a part of it?" He steps forward and hooks a finger under one of the female arrancar's face, tilting it back. The long strands of sandy brown hair slide away from her cheeks to reveal a young, innocent (for a soul eating monster) face. The large pale, silver eyes on her face flutter in fatigue and fear.

Ichigo shifts his grip on his zanpaktou, his foot sliding back. The other young arrancar suddenly gasps, her matching eyes flashing behind a curtain of long, black hair. Her reiatsu screams out again.

"No!" She shouts, "Don't touch her!" _They're a pair,_ Ichigo realizes, watching the black-haired one flinch when Barragan's grip on the sandy-haired one tightens. In his head, two high-pitched giggles of little girls playing echoes. He clenches his eyes shut for a moment, deciding to follow his instinct to protect these two terrified arrancar. He can sense great power in them as a pair, and he wants to help them get away from Barragan's less-than-stellar intentions.

Ichigo lets his reiatsu skyrocket.

"You will let them go," he grits out from behind clenched teeth, his white robes snapping around him.

Barragan chuckles, "You can't give me orders, _numero."_

The apparent fourteen-year-old is not deterred, "I'll fight you for them."

Barragan's fraccion all blinks before bursting out in rude laughter. Barragan looks amused. "Alright then, son of Aizen. If you land a blow on me, I'll let you have them."

"I think you've read me wrong," Ichigo glares, his reiatsu still climbing, forcing the segunda espada to release his own, "When I _kill _you, I'll be taking your position, those girls, and your fraccion."

Barragan's rage is evident on his face. His beefy arm grabs onto his battleaxe and swings it forward. Ichigo's own zanpaktou takes the hit and stops it in its tracks.

"There's something almost human about you, boy," Barragan sneers, "that will be your downfall."

"You piss me off!" Ichigo returns. He jumps backward, a cero gathering in the palm of his hand. He shoots it off, throwing back the five present members of Barragan's fraccion. He shoves off the wall with his feet, his eyes shadowing into black sclera.

His zanpaktou meets with a furious clash against Barragan's. The old espada stumbles backward. The ground cracks underneath them as their reiatsu climbs higher and higher.

"You've got guts, kid," Barragan snarls. He then swirls his axe around before shouting out: "Rot, Arrogante!" Ichigo sonidos out of the way of the shockwave, crossing his zanpaktou in a wide slash in front of his body. He copies his opponent's decision.

The still concious members of the fraccion watch with wide eyes as the orange-haired arrancar, a boy whose true power is unknown to all except the tercera espada, sexta espada, and Lord Aizen himself, reveals his capabilites.

A mask crawls onto his face, his eyes glowing yellow. His thin black daito screams at his shout.

"Zangetsu!" A chain explodes from the hilt of the sword, wrapping around the whitening skin of the boy's arm. Two thick black lines form on his mask and disappear into the neckline of his shirt. Between the two horns atop his head a bright, red cero glows a warning of impending destruction. As terrifying (and comically short) as the true nature behind his power is, the others present can sense that not all of it is really on rampage here.

And to be honest, after the release, none of the fracciones present doubt that Barragan will meet his end in this fight. They just never suspect it will happen so quickly.

Barragan dives toward the last arrancar ever created, his respira flowing out around him. The creature that Ichigo has become takes the attack in stride. His body does not rot...or rather, his regeneration speed is so great that the espada representing time cannot match it. The black sword miraculously still intact after resurreccion flashes through the air once before the respira sucks back up under the robes of the skeletal figure of Barragan. The segunda espada takes his take screaming profanities at Ichigo, his own body and many consumed souls beginning to rot away.

Ichigo merely smirks.

"You're a sick bastard, number 102," Ichigo's voice echoes wildly from behind the skull mask, "Better for you to die than live in exile, right?"

"Damn you!" Barragan screams. His remaining skeletal arm reaches for the white mask on Ichigo's face. The orange-haired arrancar lets it disperse, his resurreccion flowing back to his sword. The daito seems to gleam viciously at its victory.

"Don't take it too badly, sir," Ichigo mocks, snatching the crown off his senior's head. He slams it into the ground and watches it shatter, "I think it's my birthday today. I was bound to power up." His eyes tell the former espada that each word is meant to insult. And it makes Barragan boil in rage all the way until he is nothing anymore.

Ichigo steps up to the two female arrancar cowering with their arms around each other against the far wall. They gasp and huddle closer as Ichigo kneels down beside them.

"Hey," he says, offering a hand, "It's ok. I won't hurt you." The black-haired of the pair, shivering, reaches out and takes the new segunda espada's hand. He smiles at her.

"Wh-who are you?" The sandy-haired ones rasps gently, pressing her own hand to the inside of Ichigo's right forearm.

"Ichigo Kurosaki, segunda espada," he speaks. A burn comes over his arm; he recognizes it as the tattoo transfering to him. "I'm going to make you my fraccion, ok?"

the girls nod, happy to be taken in to safety.

"What're you names?" Ichigo asks, helping them to stand.

"Araceli Fernandez," the dark-haired girl supplies. Her hair falls back from her broken mask to reveal a pattern resembling the phases of the moon. It's beautiful. The other stands too.

"Yahaira Fernandez," says the sandy-haired arrancar. "We are happy to serve you, Master Ichigo."

"Just Ichigo, please," the new espada says, rubbing a hand behind his neck awkwardly. "Come on, let's get you back to my rooms." The girls hold onto his robes for support. At the door, Ichigo stops but does not turn his head back to the shocked former fraccion of Barragan.

"If you wish to follow the rules and become my fraccion, I expect to find this room competely in order again by the next week. Anyone who does not comply can face exile or death by my hand." The defeated arrancar watch him go with shattering loyalty. Barragan had been king of the hollows before. If this child could beat him, then perhaps he will be the one to end the reign of Aizen they all so desperately want to escape. All resolve to become Ichigo's fraccion.

* * *

"Ichigo!" The yell comes, naturally, from a blue-haired espada with a group of beat-up numeros behind him. "Where'd you go- hey!" He points rude finger at the girls walking at Ichigo's shoulders. They instantly bury their faces in his robes. "Who the hell are they?!"

Ichigo crosses his arms, his reiatsu giving off a comforting feel to the girls holding onto him. "My fracciones," he says curtly, "Got a problem?"

Grimmjow throws back his head and laughs. "Your _fracciones?_ Ha! Only espada can have those. You may be powerful, brat, but you can't just go changing the rules."

Ichigo muttered a quick apology to the girls before sliding out of their hold. His cocky scowl has a sort of excitement building in Grimmjow's bones. "And who says I'm breaking rules, Grimm-kitty?" He tugs off the shoulder and sleeve of his uniform, baring a forearm to his friend. A black, stylized '2' is printed boldly on the inside of his forearm.

Grimmjow balks. "B-but, Barragan..."

"Dead," Ichigo says simply. "Bastard pissed me off." he shrugs. Grimmjow slaps a hand to his forehead, laughing hard.

"Damn!" He laughs, "Damn-oh-damn! You're really something aren't you brat!?" Ichigo fixes his shirt and rolls his eyes.

"Just remember, Grimm-kitty, you take orders from me now." And then he scoops up his fracciones in his arms and dashes off to his rooms in a burst of sonido.

A new presense makes itself known beside the sexta espada.

"Change is coming, Grimmjow," a low, feminine voice says. Tia Halibel stands with her arms crossed and eyes expressionless beside him. Nevertheless, Grimmjow can feel a warmth seeping from her: pride.

"Yeah," the blue-haired arrancar agrees with the tercera espada, "And it'll be all that brat's fault."

A week later, Aizen decrees that espada ranked fourth and above cannot release within the walls of Las Noches. Tia merely hums in consent, knowing that something much more radical is on the way.

* * *

**Ok, I apologize for how long this took, but I've been really annoyed by the bleach storyline recently and had absolutely no desire to write Bleach FanFiction. Oh well. I will be finishing this, I promise. **

**Next update: 3/5/13**

**Please review and, since I took so long, those of you who patiently waited deserve to know, that Rukia will be making her entrance in two chapters!**

**And yes, I made Ichigo the second espada. Why? BC I can't stand Barragan. I thought his character was really stupid...lol.**

**For the love of rewriting Bleach,**

**CoriRedde**


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